Wreck of HIJMS Yurijima (由利島)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck

HIJMS Yurijima was laid down in 1942 as a Hirashima Class Minelayer in 1942 and commissioned into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy in November 1942, assigned to the Saeki Guard Unit. Spending only a few months performing her intended role, the Yurijima was converted in early 1943 into a Convoy Escort and had her minelaying apparatus removed in favor of anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weaponry.

Departing the shipyard for war duty in mid-1943, the Yurijima spent the next year and a half in the unsung but vital role of a convoy escort for merchant ships, tankers and navy ships. As 1943 passed into 1944 the Yurijima's duty became increasingly hazardous as more and more US aircraft and Submarines began making regular attacks on Japan's vital convoy supply lines, aided by having broken the Japanese communication codes. Such was the case for convoy SASHI-40, which the Yurijima and several other converted minelayers were escorting from Cap St. Jacques to Singapore on January 12th, 1945. Betrayed by intercepted radio communications from the Yurijima herself, the convoy was identified by American aircraft and came under heavy attack, losing three of the five transport ships in the nighttime action. Limping back into Cap St. Jacques harbor with the remaining two heavily damaged merchantment, the Yurijima detached from her charges and was ordered onward to Singapore.

Departing Singapore alone on January 14th bound by way of Moji, the Yurijima came across the path of the patrolling American Submarine USS Cobia (SS-245) which promptly moved into attack position. Likely unaware they were in any danger until the sole torpedo fired by Cobia was sighted, the crew of the Yurijima had little warning or time to react before their ship was struck squarely on her Port side midship. Lightly armored and thin-hulled, the Yurijima was decimated by the force of the resultant explosion and quickly began to sink, her crew hastily scrambling over her side and into the warm waters. Though the Cobia surfaced to photograph the sinking vessel and rescue survivors, only two of the Yurijima's crew accepted rescue and the rest refused by the time a Japanese bomber arrived overhead and sent the Cobia back into the deep. When the Yurijima finally sank at this location on January 14th, 1945, she took the remaining 65 men of her crew with her.

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